Halo Headlines: Giavotella appears to have won 2B job, quantifying Trout’s importance

The March 31st, 2015 edition of Los Angeles Angels news including Giavotella appears to have won 2B job, quantifying Trout’s importance and much more…

The Story: Johnny Giavotella appears to have locked up the second base job.
The Monkey Says: The Angels used what very much looked like their Opening Day lineup yesterday and it included Giavotella starting at second and batting ninth. Scioscia refused to confirm that this was his de facto starting lineup, but it wasn’t a convincing denial.

The Story: Quantifying the importance of Mike Trout is no easy task.
The Monkey Says: Umm, I’m pretty sure that’s what WAR does, right?

The Story: Grant Green is adapting to his new role as a utility player.
The Monkey Says: Even he isn’t totally sure why he fell out of the second base race so quickly, but he’s largely been seeing time in left field of late. My guess is that his second base defense was just so bad that the Angels decided to cut bait and use the time better by having him work out at other positions. As such, Green will likely start the year in Triple-A, though it remains possible that he could win a bench spot.

The Story: Kaleb Cowart has apparently returned to switch-hitting.
The Monkey Says: That is a bit of a surprise, but it really isn’t that big of a deal because Cowart can’t hit from either side of the plate. This is all just rearranging deckchairs on the Titanic.

The Story: Grantland previews the AL West.
The Monkey Says: And picks the Mariners to win the division, though they do believe the Angels will win the Wild Card.

The Story: Looking at the Kris Bryant situation through the lens of Mike Trout’s service time considerations.
The Monkey Says: I’d actually prefer to consider whether or not the Angels would’ve been better off not calling him up as early as they did in 2012 or maybe not call him up at all in 2011. His performance level was so established by 2013 that it obviously was never going to happen. The difference now with Bryant is that while everyone expects him to be a star, we haven’t seen him prove it yet.

The Story: Vladimir Guerrero is polling his fans to see what cap he should wear into Cooperstown?
The Monkey Says: He intimates that the vote was basically split. He’s said before that he would prefer to wear an Expos hat, but it also doesn’t entirely matter what he prefers. Cooperstown will take that into consideration, but ultimately they are the ones to make the call.